Something Like That
by ishallbleedinwardly
Summary: Nick's perspective post-Cooler.
1. Chapter 1: It was the number two

The door slammed, and with it, the last bit of Nick's resolve vanished. His heart was out of that door, laying on the floor of a hallway in between two rooms. He collapsed on the edge of his bed. Thinking it too soft, he slid to the floor. The whirring ceiling fan created a beat. He fancied that its steadiness might slow his heart rate, but it didn't. The fan blades formed into a continuous blur; it looked like flower petals. It looked like her eyelids fluttering shut when their lips met.

_What have I done?_

It was a hand on a knee covered in a ridiculous tutu. It was a purple bra. It was the slight parting of her mouth when he blurted out, like an idiot, that he couldn't kiss her "like this." It was her voice on the telephone. It was rushing out the window in an attempt to escape something impossible. It was the number two. It was over a year of seeing something in her eyes he couldn't define. It was a dog, and a trench coat, and a melon with his face drawn on.

It was Jess.

Nick drifted off to sleep, thinking that he might as well have slipped off the ledge of that windowsill.


	2. Chapter 2: I'll shake you off though

Jess had given him a non-committal nod when Nick entered the kitchen. She wouldn't even look at him. He opened his mouth to say something, anything to explain away what he had none. He couldn't conjure up a sound. He clamped his mouth shut while Jessica Day, without a single glance in his direction, grabbed her bag and her keys and walked out the door. It slammed behind her, shaking the wall and rattling the old pipes. She forgot about the pipes. She never listens during pipe talk.

This is why he keeps barriers between himself and other people. This is why, because it inevitably ends in a slammed door. A psychologist would probably chalk it up to daddy issues, but Nick had a sinking feeling that this was simply who he is. He could've grown up in a picturesque loving home and still, he'd be sitting in this exact place with his head in his hands and The Girl fleeing down the stairs. Escaping him.

_At last she didn't jump out the window_, he thought dryly.

He heard giggling from the other room and realized that Schmidt and Winston both got some last night. The thought made him actually nauseous. _There I go, being the cynical, miserable asshole again_. He didn't want to think that it was unfair; he didn't want to be that guy. It didn't stop him from grabbing the nearest coffee cup and slamming it in the sink. He heard it shatter with satisfaction. The smug smile fell off his face when he realized that Jess had probably been drinking from that mug before she ran for the hills.

"What the hell?!"

_Oops, did I break the mood?_ Schmidt ran into the kitchen, his hair comically sticking up in one direction. He looked like he had been in a top-down convertible going 70 on the freeway. Actually, Nick had been with him one time in a top-down convertible going 70 on the freeway and his hair really did look exactly like that.

"Breaking our china, Nick?! That's at least a 20 in the jar."

He didn't say anything. He walked calmly over to the Douchebag Jar, picked it up, looked pointedly at Schmidt, and threw it full-force to the ground.

"Oh shit, okay Nick, what happened, Nick…"

He was in the living room now, throwing couch cushions in every direction.

"Alright, I appreciate the evolution from glassware to pillows but NICK!"

Nick, from exhaustion (he really was out-of-shape) collapsed into the mess he had created. Creating messes. Now there was something he was damn good at.

"I ruined everything. I ruined everything, Schmidt."  
"Oh come on, the throw pillows aren't that bad now, with a little fluff we could…"  
"I'm not talking about the damn couch, man!"  
"Yeah yeah, I know. Holly left earlier this morning, the same time Sam did. Both had work. Jess and I showed them out at the same time and… well, "Nick violated my tongue space" was written all over her face after they were gone."

He stood up, hearing enough. She showed Sam out? Oh, of course she did. The loving, happy couple. The handsome couple. Sam, the attractive doctor.

He ran into his room, quickly changed into a pair of jeans, and walked out the door.

He was not letting Jess just go.


End file.
